Carlos Jiménez Quintet: Déjà Vu
CajMusic
The term “déjà vu,” which translated from French means “already seen,” could apply to Carlos Jiménez's latest quintet release in at least two ways. Anyone acquainted with the quintet's 2019 album Don't Fall might experience some degree of familiarity with the album's sound and style as Déjà vu plays. It's also possible that the guitarist chose the title because seven of its eight originals are contrafacts, that is to say, new pieces written using the chord progressions of jazz standards. No matter: the point's largely moot when what really counts are the performances, the tunes, and their impact. Recorded at Studio Doxas Boutique de Son in August 2024, the Jiménez-produced set augments him with fellow Montrealers Alexandre Côté on alto sax, Pierre François piano, Dave Watts double bass, and Alain Bourgeois drums, versatile and adaptable players all.
In addition to being a valued hired hand, Jiménez's issued five albums as a leader (the latest included) and contributed to projects covering Brazilian and popular music as well as jazz. His academic credentials are impressive, too: the holder of a Doctorate degree in jazz performance, Jiménez teaches jazz guitar at McGill University's Schulich School of Music. A guessing game could be played to identify the pieces that inspired the contrafacts (“For You” calls to mind Dave Brubeck's “The Duke,” for example), but one's time and energy are better spent focusing on the performances when they're so polished and tight.
A terrific opener, “April Fools” finds the band in free flight, the rhythm section powering the groove muscularly and Côté and the leader riding the wave like expert surfers. Jiménez solos first with an acrobatic and hard-grooving turn, after which the saxist and pianist execute high-flying statements of their own. As often happens on the release, different stylistic strains make their way into the material, in this case a faint hint of calypso adding to the breezy flow. Slowing things down, “Lovely” presents the unit in explorative ballad mode, Côté dazzling with a series of fleet-fingered runs before the leader brings the intensity down for a probing expression marked by scalar flourishes and agility.
The high-velocity “No You Didn't” is firmly in the bop tradition, with all five burning through the performance and embracing the foray enthusiastically. The band first delivers “Déjà Vu” as an eloquent ballad, but the combustible energy that comes naturally to the five transforms the piece into a hard-burning affair. Stretching across eleven minutes, “Deep Blue” drapes a rather Monkish melody or two across its slow blues-ballad foundation. With its intricate melodic design, shifting key changes, and Watts on electric bass, “Look at the Stars” positions the quintet within a more contemporary context
With material solidly rooted in jazz tradition, no rule book's rewritten, but Déjà vu nevertheless engages for its solid performances, urgent swing, and modern jazz tunes. It might be unfair to treat it as representative of Montreal jazz; even so, the album convincingly argues that the current state of jazz in Québec's largest city is strong and healthy indeed. Jiménez plays great throughout, but his partners are no less impressive and do much to make this quintet date the quality outing it is.June 2025